


The Destruction of Esgaroth

by KusanoSaku



Series: The Fall and Rise of the House of Durin [6]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Ass Elladan, Bad Ass Elrohir, Bad Ass Legolas, Bad Ass Tauriel, Bard and His Family Feels, Burning of Laketown, Comfort/Angst, Destruction of Laketown, F/M, Healer Tauriel, Leader Bard, M/M, Orc Attack, no dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 09:09:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KusanoSaku/pseuds/KusanoSaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though Smaug never came to Laketown because of the company's passage through it, Laketown is attacked and burns. Bard who has exhibited leadership in the past rises to the occasion in the dark hours of its burning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Destruction of Esgaroth

**Author's Note:**

> Since none of my primary characters were present at the destruction and it was important plot wise, I had to write this as a one-shot.

The Orcs of Gundabad led by Bolg, the king of that stronghold had tracked their lost long-ranger scout party only to find signs that they had run into dwarven and Elven filth…

 

They ran into a tracking party out of their southern Misty Mountains stronghold that was once called Khazad-dŭm and Moria…

 

His father Azog led said party…

 

Once they realized they were tracking the same group of dwarven filth, they reluctantly travelled on together…

 

Only a third of the host he led in his eagerness to destroy the escaped dwarves…

 

When they tracked the dwarves to Mirkwood, they were met by an orc messenger of Dol Goldur who demand not only their returned allegiance but also that they destroy the dwarves they were tracking…

 

As if they weren’t already planning such a bloodbath…

 

They dare not enter into Mirkwood Forest rather they skirted it and found that the dwarven and Elven filth they were tracking had been joined by two more elves…

 

The two scouting parties were irritated at having to be in such close proximity, Bolg didn’t like his father Azog’s domineering and abrasive behaviour as if he were Bolg’s superior.

 

In Bolg’s opinion, he was superior to Azog who was subservient to the Balroq that was known as Durin’s Bane…

 

They were freer with the Witch King of Agmar no longer in power in the North…

 

Bolg had gotten used to being free to treat his subservient Orcs as he saw fit.

 

He wasn’t going to submit to anyone less than the Dark Lord Sauron…

 

They tracked the party of elves and dwarves to a set of stables that they lit on fire.

 

Azog realize that whoever these humans were that they gave shelter to their prey…

 

He ordered Bolg to punish those humans; the men of this place had long been enemies of their Lord Sauron…

 

Destroying this place would punish them for harbouring his fugitives…

 

Bolg reluctantly obeyed leading a mixed force of Moria and Gundabad Orcs across the lake to the settlement there.

 

They arrived in the dark of night setting fire to the outer buildings with flung torches and arrows…

 

XooooooX

 

Since the buildings that made up Laketown were all made of wood and Esgaroth was built tightly together linked up by waterways or wooden bridges the fire spread quickly.

 

The elves: Elrohir, Elladan, Legolas and Tauriel were the first to awaken.

 

Tauriel’s children Sigriel, Bain and Tildiel woke soon after.

 

Tauriel shook Bard, “Laketown is on fire!”

 

The grandson of Girion woke at once.

 

Tauriel shouted for Sigriel to wake up Ingrid.

 

Bard ordered Bane to ready the barge.

 

The soon-to-be displaced family packed what they could carry that would burn if left.

 

They loaded what they could into Bard’s barge that miraculously was unburnt.

 

Then Bard, Tauriel and their children ran waking their neighbours and begged them to gather what they could carry.

 

Bard possessed one of Laketown’s largest boats, the other belonged to the Master of Esgaroth…

 

XooooooX

 

Alfrid was awoke by the shouts of the Master’s guards and his superior’s almost hysterically barked orders.

 

“Forget Esgaroth! It burns! We must save the gold! With it we can rebuild and begin again as we did after the loss of Dale! Where is that layabout Alfrid?”

 

Irritated, Alfrid dressed hurriedly and joined in on carrying the contents of the Master’s treasury out to the Master’s boat that they never used.

 

It was strictly speaking a fancy boat that was meant to proclaim that this was the Master of Esgaroth and that he was very prosperous…

 

Once the boat was laden with all the gold that the Master possessed; the Master, Alfrid, the captain of the Master’s guard, Braga and three more favoured guards alighted and the four guards began to steer the Master’s boat through the crowded water ways of the burning Laketown…

 

Any man, woman or boat that got in the way of the Master’s flight; the former were struck such a blow with the steering poles that they were likely to drown and the later were assaulted so that the boats over laden with lake people and what belongings they could carry were damaged so that they began to sink to give Master and his party safer passage.

 

XooooooX

 

The screams of anguish and terror blended together into a cacophony that pierced the night and soon gave Tauriel, Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan mind numbing headaches.

 

Bard took only as many refugees as his barge could safely carry, his heart wept as the boats that were overfilled overturned or sank.

 

The boats that overturned had fights that broke out that threatened lives as dearly as the fire…

 

Bard shouted, “Women and children first priority! Then the elderly and the sick! The women can steer, they know how! Men you can swim! Leave your belongings on the boats and swim! Swim for your lives.”

 

His counsel broke through the terror and the people of Laketown who were in the water scurried to arrange themselves thus.

 

XooooooX

 

Once they reached a deeper watercourse of Esgaroth, the boat began taking on water.

 

Alfrid cried out, “We’re too heavy! We’ll have to lighten the load!”

 

The Master of Esgaroth sneered, “So we must! My gold I will not part with and I’ll need my guards. It is you Alfrid Lickspittle who are worthless to me enough to be thrown overboard to lighten our load!”

 

Alfrid flinched at the byname that the Lake men had given him due to his work as an assistant cum advisor.

 

The flinch coupled with the Master’s vicious shove sent Alfrid falling overboard.

 

Alfrid watched the boat abandon him as he struggled to tread water; he wasn’t a fisherman why did he need to have learned how to swim?

 

Just as the Master was about to near the open water, a large burning watchtower broke apart…

 

The wind was just strong enough to send large burning pieces of the watchtower raining down on the Master’s boat.

 

Feeling more then a little vindicated, Alfrid watched with vicious glee as the watchtower’s burning rubble sank the Master’s over laden boat…

 

The loss of the gold was painful; for Alfrid felt that as the Master’s loyal assistant cum advisor that he was owed it.

 

Still mourning its loss, Alfrid began the long swim towards the shore.

 

As he passed the smoking but no longer burning rubble that sank the Master’s treasury ship, Alfrid pressed a large piece deeper into the water to make sure that it was completely out. Then he pulled himself half onto it and weakly kicked in the vague direction of the shore…

 

XooooooX

 

It was when Bard’s barge neared the outer limits of Esgaroth that they realized that the danger they were trying to escape was a matter of ‘out of the pan and into the fire’.

 

Bard watched in horror as the first of the fleeing boats were attacked.

 

Elladan shouted, “Elrohir orcs!”

 

It was too dark for arrows…

 

Veteran fighters of the orc scourge: the twin sons of Elrond together Thranduil’s son and his niece dropped their swords and bows in Bard’s boat as they leapt into the water…

 

The four elves were decent swimmers, those of Imladris more so then their Mirkwood kin.

 

They attacked the Orcs in the water swimming behind them and slicing their throats with lighter knives.

 

There were six total…

 

They killed five but the sixth escaped their assault…

 

Elrohir killed two, the other elves dealt with one apiece…

  
The elves swam after the last orc…

 

They fought the two that they encountered there…

 

Their keen sight under the light of the stars while not sufficient enough for archery allowed them to secure the beach…

 

When the sun started to emerge over the mountains, the light of an autumn dawn revealed the sooty refugees that has escaped the fires of Laketown…

 

Once they had landed Tauriel sent Legolas as well as her daughter Tildiel out to find healing plants so that she could tend burns and treat smoke damaged lungs.

 

Bard set out to find the Master of Laketown.

 

Elrohir, Elladan and Bain went to find wood and stone to build large controlled fires so that the refugees who wet through like many of the able bodied men who unlike Bard had been forced to swim.

 

A thick mist appeared on the lake now that the sun was rising, it had always been there but the inhabitants of Laketown knew how to navigate through it, while it wasn’t a rain it would retard the fire and help it hopefully die.

 

The women of Laketown brought the injured to Tauriel as they had since she proved her healing skills by treating a flu epidemic soon after she ‘married’ Bard.

 

Sigriel had a calming but authoritive presence for one so young, she was helpful in calming the ill and assisting Tauriel in healing.

 

Ingrid who was a strong woman in many ways, was collecting blankets that had been wrapped around the children when they fled the burning town that was their home.

 

She was handing them out to the soaked men who gave up seats for the women, children, sick and elderly.

 

Tauriel was attentive to all that was around her in case she was shouted for when she overheard Alfrid the weasel demanding that Ingrid give him a blanket.

 

Why in Eru’s name did that pest survive?

 

The fracas threatened to turn into a riot.

 

Then Tauriel heard with her sharp ears, Bard’s authoritive voice quelling them as it quelled the hysteria last night when boats overturned.

 

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” Bard thundered, “We’ll need all of us! Its already autumn! Winter is coming! Esgaroth is gone! The blankets are for the men who will return to the ruins of Laketown to see what we can salvage. The first fire that our Elven friends are building is for them. The second fire will be for breakfast. I’m sure that given our destitution at present that those who are our luckiest fishermen will try their hands at fishing. Our bowmen and women will go with Legolas to search for what creatures of the forest that can feed us. Tauriel will look after our wounded and treat them if Eru wills it that they should live.”

 

“What about the rest of us?” Alfrid muttered.

 

“Those who know what food is safe to forage can try their hand at that. Those who don’t can weave baskets out of reeds to carry water. Others can lash frames to dry wet clothes. It will be a long winter and we’ll need to gather what we can if we are to survive.”

 

“Then what shall we do?” a man asked.

 

Bard addressed them by name, “Ardif, when we gave what we could spare to Thorin and his Company they promised us a future claim in payment. If they have retaken Erebor and vanquished the dragon there then we’ll ask to live this winter in Erebor and in spring our two peoples can rebuild both Erebor and Dale! We left Dale because we had no livestock, our boats were burned and so were our fields! The buildings will need repair, there will likely be weeds and stunted trees to uproot but we can make Dale great again. Erebor is our only hope to survive; it will be bitterly cold as we know. With Esgaroth lost and Dale a ruin, we lack shelter.”

 

“What about food?” Ingrid asked pensive.

 

Bard as well as Tauriel knew that their neighbour had children of her own to worry about, as did they.

 

Legolas spoke, “I will request aid from my father. You can repay us when you are strong again! Elves are patient and it will take you time to rebuild.”

 

Tauriel thought his offer was hasty; there was no guarantee that Thranduil would agree…

 

“We will request that our sister send you what we can spare as well. She will weep for your losses and she will insist on helping, as the Lady of Imladris such is within her power.” Elrohir added.

 

Tauriel wished that she too had such power for there was much she would like to do to help her adopted people…

 

Between the fishermen and the archers who went hunting, some food was available for all.

 

Ingrid took charge of both the cooking and dividing the food among them all, ensuring that the children ate first and then the men seeing as how they would be returning to the desolation that was their home.

 

Lastly the women, though the injured ate before them…

 

Despite Tauriel’s best efforts, they still lost more due to wounds and injury from the fire.

 

Some of the dead were those who survived the attack on the first of the refugees to leave the burning Laketown…

 

Orc blades had poisoned them and by the time Tauriel reached them, the lack of _Asëa Aranion_ had them perishing to her dismay.

 

Tauriel was not the healer that Lord Elrond of Imladris was; she had, when she was discovered to have some talent at healing, been sent to study under Elrond. It was that talent as well as her status as Thranduil’s niece and skill in leadership that granted her a captaincy in the Elven kingdom of Mirkwood…

 

She wished for more skill but without _Asëa Aranion_ , also known as _Athelas_ or _Kingsfoil_ , the poor souls were doomed.

 

They deserved better…

 

If she and her kin had realized that the fire was due to an attack rather than happenstance and cruel fate, then perhaps they may yet have lived.

 

Tauriel had joined her Elven kin and her family in rescuing as many of the inhabitants of Esgaroth that could ride upon Bard’s trading barge.

 

The loss of so many patients broke her heart but she was too wary of showing much emotion. There would be time to mourn later…

 

It was Sigriel who wept silently as she gestured for the bodies to be stacked. What little the dead could spare was taken…

 

The dead would be returned likely to the ruins of Esgaroth where once it was stripped of all possible items of worth that would help them survive.

 

They rested from their labours to recover as best they could and to gather strength…

 

XooooooX

 

The refugees from Esgaroth loaded what they salvaged from the ruin that was once their home as well what they had fled with onto Bard’s barge. The smaller boats were for the women, children, elderly and the injured or sick.

 

The women would steer the boats, while the men would follow along on the shore.

 

To their surprise somehow the horses that had come with Legolas and Tauriel out of Mirkwood as well those belonging to Elrohir and Elladan had escaped the burning stable.

 

Elrohir and Elladan did not ride Bard’s barge this time, they scouted out the easiest trek towards Dale and Erebor as well as hunted when the opportunity struck them.

 

The boats that escaped the fires of Laketown had nets that the boats stretched between them hoping for a catch despite the lateness of the year.

 

Women who had strong twine to add to the sturdy branches and young trees cut down by fishermen with axes and as well as hooks rescued from the ruins, they built fishing poles.

 

They were mostly a means of keeping the frightened children occupied but the mothers kept a close eye out in case luck was with them.

 

Though the lands near Esgaroth were rather bare, the closer they drew to Dale the more plentiful the game was. Not much but enough…

 

A few of the women who knew safe plants to eat took turns walking with their men. They weaved baskets out of reeds and tall grass to carry their harvests.

 

The farther they were from Esgaroth the more they found…

 

It wasn’t a feast by Mirkwood or Imladris standards but for the starving people of Esgaroth, it was a bounty.

 

Since Bard hadn’t found the Master of Laketown and Alfrid would only say that he was gone, the people who had always respected Bard and Tauriel turned to them.

 

The couple had taken to the leadership of the refugees of Esgaroth with grace, allowing those with fishing skill, gathering, basket weaving or the like to step up. In a situation like this, the people needed to feel as if they still had worth and all skills that could help them survive were welcome…

 

Legolas like Tauriel knew the land between Mirkwood and Esgaroth better then the people of Laketown for there had been so much time between now and their forced exile from Dale that the way by land was forgotten. With Tauriel caring for the sick and injured, that left the archers to hunt under Legolas’ guidance.

 

Tauriel would walk through the land around their campsite with Elrohir who was the better tracker out of the brothers searching out the tracks of rabbits and other edible creatures to lay snares. Meat was not a fond food choice for elves; they preferred vegetation or fish, which left more for the humans in their care.

 

Since food was scarce, they ate what they caught by snare for breakfast. What _lembas_ they had was shared with the refugees even if it were a mere swallow. It had to last…

 

Dinner was of course what they caught or gathered while they travelled, one could travel farther much faster by boat but the women tired easily because they were unused to the work. Even taking turns, they still travelled not that much faster.

 

One of the twins would ride ahead to select a suitable campsite; the women would land beaching the boats and begin to unpack. The twin present would lead the older children to gather firewood. This became their habit as the days wore on…

 

If Thorin granted them asylum for the winter and food aid came from Imladris and Mirkwood they would survive…

 

A trip that would take three days riding took almost a week by boat and foot.

 

On day six they spotted the Ruins of Dale as the sun set and Legolas left them hoping to convince Thranduil to give them food…

 

Renewed vigour had them pressing on harder…

 

By sunset on the seventh day of travelling and eight days since Esgaroth burned, they arrived in Dale…

 

Footsore, weary in body and in spirit, they took shelter in what was the Great Hall of Dale…

 

It was a long walk from the West Gate to the Great Hall but they were grateful to have arrived in a place that would if Eru willed it, be their new home…

 

Tauriel was still with Bard because they needed her skill, nights were growing colder and she was on constant alert for the first signs of colds or worse striking her charges…

 

Elrohir and Elladan were less weary, so they searched Dale carrying all the wood that they could find as well as stone to shore up the cracks enough to keep the Great Hall warm.

 

It was Tauriel who cooked, though she too was exhausted…

 

Her care had further endeared the descendants of Dale exiles to her; she did what any healer would do and asked for no reward for her struggles.

 

They all fell into a deep sleep of the weary but accomplished…

 

 


End file.
